


Saving Teyla

by Melime



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Altered Mental States, F/M, First Kiss, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-08 00:33:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5476376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After what seemed like a routine recon mission, a mysterious illness takes John, Rodney, and Ronon out of commission, while leaving Teyla full of energy and acting strangely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saving Teyla

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PuddleJ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuddleJ/gifts).
  * Translation into Português brasileiro available: [Salvando Teyla](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5478170) by [Melime GreenLeaf (Melime)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime%20GreenLeaf)



> Gift for [lizs24](http://lizs24.livejournal.com/) in the SGA Secret Santa 2015 exchange.
> 
> Many thanks to my wonderful beta [Alfer](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Alfer), who went above and beyond the call of duty.

The planet was hot, almost completely covered by a dense forest, and seemed uninhabited; the kind of place they would usually give a quick look around before dismissing completely. However, Radek swore he found something in the database about an advanced research outpost supposedly set to study means of Wraith to human transformation, and that would be worth the several hours they spent walking around in the woods. That is, if they could find something.

John was almost deciding they should just be headed home when Rodney finally declared he was picking up faint energy readings. The outpost was hidden by brakes and wouldn’t be visible above the tree line, although they couldn’t tell if that was intentional or just a consequence of the passage of time, and even the energy emissions didn’t start until Sheppard was just ten meters away from the entrance. Chances were in their favor that this place hadn’t been touched in a long time.

\---

They didn’t find as much in the planet as they had initially hoped. After hours making John turn random things on and trying to decode anything on the database, Rodney finally declared that there was nothing more he could do without his computers on Atlantis. They headed back just in time for their first check-in.

John gave two steps out of the gate, greeted Elizabeth, and promptly fell to the ground, convulsing. He was taken to the infirmary, followed by his teammates, who waited there for nearly two hours before they had any news.

“What’s wrong with Sheppard?” Rodney asked the second Carson appeared in front of them.

Carson looked tired, and that wasn’t a good sign, it was the look he got when he didn’t know what to do and people would die if he didn’t find out. “The seizures stopped, for now, but we still don’t know what was causing them. Did you come in contact with anything different during the mission?”

“The planet was filled with plant life, much of which I am not familiar with. Perhaps there was something poisonous among them,” Teyla provided.

“I had him turn on some devices there, they didn’t seem to do anything, but maybe had a delayed effect. I have to go back to my lab and analyze the data we got from the planet, I can’t do anything more from here,” Rodney said, getting up. He gave a few quick steps towards the door before bending violently.

Ronon was closer, and caught him before he got to the floor. Carson hushed to his side.

“Get him to that gurney,” he said, after verifying Rodney was also having a seizure. “And you are both confined to the infirmary until I can take a look at you, whatever this is, I can’t know for sure you haven’t been affected.”

\---

After exhaustive exams, Carson found nothing out of the extraordinary with them, and was getting ready to release them when Ronon fell. His symptoms weren’t as strong, but it was unmistakable that it was the same condition. Since it was clear he had no way of detecting the condition before the symptoms started, Carson gave Teyla a bed, with instructions not to stand up unless it was necessary.

When he came to check on her a couple of hours later, she was gone.

\---

Lorne was the one who found her, after Carson called for a citywide chase, more out of concern for her than fear she could be dangerous. She had been in the gym, training alone, and didn’t oppose being brought back.

“Teyla, what happened? I told you to stay here,” Carson said, as soon as she stepped in the infirmary, escorted by Lorne.

“I was bored, and besides I feel perfectly fine.”

Carson was taken back by her response, she didn’t sound like herself, but it wasn’t enough for him to rule it as a symptom yet. “Colonel Sheppard started showing symptoms as soon as you got here, Dr. McKay two hours after that, and Ronon needed another four hours. We can’t know what’s causing this or if you’ll be affected too.”

Teyla rolled her eyes, then laughed. “I told you, I feel fine. Better than fine.”

“Maybe that’s a symptom too; this is clearly a condition that changes from patient to patient.”

“How could the same illness cause such drastic effects on some people and leave me so full of energy? Those two things are clearly not related.”

“They could be, we don’t know yet what’s causing the different incubation periods. The working theory is that the ATA gene may be accelerating the effects, maybe even worsening the condition. That’s why I need to conduct more tests.”

“Ronon does not possess the gene either and he is sick, while as I said I feel fine.”

“Still, I would feel better if you stayed here until we knew for sure. It could be dangerous if you started to have seizures while alone.”

She rolled her eyes, but followed him to a bed. Before he left her to check on John, he placed a nurse there to make sure she wouldn’t try to leave again. He didn’t know what was happening to Teyla or why she was acting like this, but he didn’t want to risk leaving her alone nor was he ready to have her restrained.

\---

Rodney was the first to wake up, after a little over seven hours, but Ronon was the quickest to recover conscience, after less than four, and John was the last, after nearly twelve hours. It caused Carson no surprise that Rodney immediately asked for his computer so he could go back to analyzing the data, Ronon insisted he was fine although he didn’t have enough strength to stand up, and John asked about his team before he was able to lift his head. Carson couldn’t say yet if their condition was improving or if this was just the progression of the disease, but their decreasing organ function didn’t leave much space for hopeful thinking.

With all the excitement of them regaining conscience, Carson didn’t even think of checking in on Teyla for hours. When he finally remembered that he kept her waiting all this long, it was too late. The nurse was knocked unconscious and Teyla was long gone.

“Carson! Where’s Carson? Someone bring him here!” Rodney yelled from the other side of the infirmary, before Carson had time to think about what to do.

He ran there, fearing that Rodney’s condition was worsening. “What is it? What happened?” He was already starting to check the monitors, but although the readings weren’t normal, they were also not outside of what he would expect as the condition progressed.

Rodney was looking at his computer, worried. “Where’s Teyla? Is she here? Does she have any symptoms?”

Carson shook his head. “She knocked a nurse unconscious and ran, and I just found out. I have to send a team after her.”

“No! Don’t do that! It could be dangerous.”

“What are you talking about? We can’t have her running loose in Atlantis, she can be sick, she can have a seizure while in an isolated part of the city. We need to find her.”

“You don’t understand. I found out why that outpost seemed so weird, it was originally meant to find a way to turn Wraith into humans, but a Wraith researcher modified it. I still have a lot to decode, but from what I can tell, he was conducting tests on human, trying to make a Wraith queen. I think Teyla’s Wraith DNA may be what he was missing. If she’s turning into a queen, she’ll be dangerous.”

“But then why are you sick?”

“That’s the thing. All the test subjects died, he wasn’t able to make a queen. The men died faster than the women, and ATA carriers even more so. The transformation is too drastic if there isn’t already an initial compatibility.” Rodney stopped, suddenly turning very pale. “You don’t suppose we will die, do you?”

Carson couldn’t consider that now. “I’ll warn Lorne, you look for a cure or a way to reverse the process.”

\---

Elizabeth ordered a team to be sent back to the planet to look for the cause of their sickness. Of all the risks she anticipated for that mission, she would never have expected Teyla to storm the gate room and hold them at gunpoint. Elizabeth wouldn’t dare to order anything other than the use of non-lethal force, but that wasn’t enough to stop her. Teyla easily fought off all her attackers and crossed the event horizon before they were able to disengage.

By the time Carson’s warning about Teyla reached them, it was too late, she was gone.

Lorne still wanted to go through with the mission, this time with the added objective of searching for Teyla, but Elizabeth vetoed it. The planet was a massive forest and, unlike them, Teyla had already spent hours exploring it. Until Rodney, now with Radek’s help, was able to find a way to reverse the transformation, no one was allowed to go after her.

John was in the middle of fighting Elizabeth and threatening to go after Teyla himself, although he still couldn’t sit up without help and his organs were all beginning to fail, when Rodney announced he had found an answer.

“I have good news and bad news. Good news is that we’re probably not going to die; the thing that is killing us is a side effect of the Ancient function of the device, not the Wraith one. Apparently, they were aware that if they were radiated with the device, it would cause a slow and painful death, and I really hope their cure works, otherwise someone will have to shoot me, because we found files on what’s going to happen. There’s a vaccine, and I have the molecules here, it should be simple enough to produce.” Rodney stopped.

No one had to ask him what the bad news were about, but he still hesitated for a moment too long.

“McKay, how do we save Teyla?” John ordered.

“You are not going to like it. The device can be used to reverse the transformation, but we have two problems. One, Teyla has to be brought there, and needs to stay conscious in order to avoid brain damage, which won’t be easy. The transformation starts in the brain, by this time, she probably thinks she really _is_ a Wraith queen and will want to stay that way.”

“And the second?” John asked when Rodney stopped again.

Rodney bit his lip, trying to find the right way to deliver the news. “The device needs to be activated by someone with the ATA gene.”

“That’s hardly a surprise,” said Elizabeth.

“No, but the thing is, it’s not so easy to control it. I think the reason all this happened is that Sheppard was only thinking ‘on’ without giving it specific directions, not that it’s his fault. From what I can tell, you can’t simply turn it on and think ‘reverse’ or ‘turn her back into human’. This wasn’t a finished equipment ready to be used in the city, it was still a very rough prototype to be used only by the scientist who created it, the user interface isn’t even complete. The commands must be clear and specific. We need someone with the ATA gene that is capable of understanding exactly what the transformation is and how it’s happening, and that person would need to know how to reverse everything, thinking every step to the device. I’m talking about knowing everything that was changed in her DNA and telling the device to reverse it, piece by piece.”

All eyes turned to Carson. With all the research he had done on Wraith DNA, he was the only viable choice.

“Give me what you found on what the device has done to her, I’m going to get a medical kit and then we can leave,” Carson replied to the question no one asked.

”Actually, it gets worse. I don’t have it. The transformation was never successful until now, you’ll have scan her with the device first, and then analyze the data and reverse the transformation before she attacks you.”

“I can do it,” Carson said, trying to convey a certitude he didn’t feel. He needed to be able to do it, or else there would be no way of saving Teyla, but he still feared that it would be too much.

“Also, the forest is too dense to fly with a jumper, you are going to have to walk there, which means you’ll have to walk back. Your gene is almost as strong as Sheppard’s, you’ll probably collapse minutes after returning to Atlantis, unless we can produce the cure first.”

“How long until you can produce it?” Elizabeth asked.

“About twenty hours, if we are lucky. The only machine we have capable of doing this broke down last week, and even if I can fix it in a couple of hours, it needs time to produce the amount we need.”

“How long for just one dose?”

“This _is_ for one dose. Three days for all four of us. But if Teyla’s transformation is completed, it will likely be permanent, and I have no idea how long that will take to happen.”

“Colonel Sheppard needs to take it first, I’m monitoring his condition, and I’m not sure we can risk it progressing for three more days,” Carson said to Elizabeth, knowing what she was thinking.

Elizabeth hesitated only for a moment. “Are you willing to take the risk?” she asked Carson, who nodded in response. “Then Major Lorne, get a team ready, bring as many men as you think would be necessary to stop Teyla without lethal force. Dr. McKay, Dr. Zelenka, start on that machine now. And John, for god’s sake, stop trying to get up, you are not going.”

“Teyla is my team,” he protested, although his voice was weak.

“And you will do her no good if you can barely move. You’ll have to sit this one out. You too,” she told Ronon, seeing that he was grabbing for his gun.

“I’m fine,” he protested.

“None the less, I need you three here in case your condition worsens. I know you want to help Teyla, but imagine how she would feel if she found out any of you died while on a mission to rescue her."

That made them stop. Neither was happy with sitting this one down, but as it seemed they had no choice.

\---

When they arrived, life signs detector indicated Teyla was headed back to the facility. She was acting on instinct, searching for Wraith technology, probably not even realizing its origins. By moving in a straight line, they were able to get there before her. Lorne decided to keep his marines hidden, but positioned strategically to help Carson in case things went south.

They were out of the way when Teyla arrived, so she was relaxed enough to start exploring the facility. Carson turned on the device and ordered it to start scanning, being careful to instruct it not to turn on any lights. That she had to be conscious for the process didn’t mean she need to be aware of what was happening, and he hoped to have it done before she had a chance to attack him.

His plan failed to consider that she would be able to feel the change happening to her body. As soon as Carson initiated the process, she became alert, and started hunting for him. In his concentration, he didn’t notice her change of behavior until the moment she jumped him.

He fell against the floor, but had the presence of mind to signal Lorne not to come, and tried to maintain his focus on the device.

“Teyla, I’m trying to help you,” he said.

She ignored him, not showing any indication of having heard him. She held him down and tried to feed off him, but luckily her feeding hand hadn’t developed yet; she hissed, and pushed harder.

“Teyla, listen to me, I know you are confused right now, but I’m here to help you.”

She hissed again, and tried to push her hand harder against his chest. When that failed again, she put her hands on his neck and started squeezing. He tried to fight her, but she was too strong, so he concentrated on working the device and trying to hold on to his conscience, he only needed a handful of minutes to get it done, he only need to last that long.

When he realized she would kill him before he managed to cure her, he acted on impulse to distract her. Carson grabbed her by the back of the head, and kissed her. After that, everything got a bit fuzzy, and before he knew it, he passed out.

\---

Carson woke up a couple of days later, back in Atlantis. Rodney showed up as soon as he heard he woke up, excitedly telling him about how he was able to boost the machine and get the vaccines done faster, and how they would all be fine. John passed by sometime later to check on him, and so did Ronon, although neither spoke as much as Rodney did. He would have to stay the night in observation, but other than that, there seemed to be no lasting effects of the device.

Teyla came by later, hesitant, as if unsure of her welcome. “I wanted to have come earlier, but Dr. Heightmeyer only released me now. I wish to apologize for my behavior.”

“Apologize? You have nothing to apologize about. I’m the one who should apologize, for what I did to try to stop you, I shouldn’t have kissed you like this.”

“Don’t say that. I don’t remember much, but I was told that I assaulted a nurse and several marines and that I… that I nearly killed you. What you did stopped me from hurting anyone else.”

“That wasn’t your fault, you weren’t yourself. I can assure you that no one blames you for what happened.”

“Still, I could have–”

“But you didn’t, and what’s important is that you are alright. We were all worried about you.”

“Still, you risked your life activating that device, knowing you would get sick, and I attacked you.”

Carson reached out and grabbed her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t do this to yourself. You were ill, you had no control of your actions, and I couldn’t just let you become a Wraith queen.”

“Thank you,” she said smiling, although she was still feeling guilty. “I know you would have done it for anyone, but–”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean, I would do anything for my patients, but I couldn’t let anything happen to _you_.”

“I’m glad that you came for me.”

Carson didn’t know what to say to that. “I’m glad that I wasn’t too late,” he said, finally.

“No, I mean, I’m glad that it was _you_ who came for me. When I realized I couldn’t feed off you, I wanted to crush you, but something stopped me. I don’t mean the kiss. If anyone else were there, I would have killed them without hesitation. But you somehow got through to me, and I didn’t want to harm you.”

She got up, but he spoke before she could try to leave.

“Teyla, I–”

She placed a finger over his lips. “I know, but please, I cannot speak of this now. I need time to think of what I done, and what that means.” She leaned down and kissed him, barely brushing their lips. He hadn’t realized his own feelings until that moment, but trust Teyla to always be perceptive. “You need to rest now, but I’ll return tomorrow so we can continue this talk.”

Carson was smiling when she left.


End file.
